Mikey Garcia wins decision over Juan Carlos Burgos

AP, NEW YORK

“I knew when I looked at him that he was pretty small and I would be physically stronger than him.” Peterson said. “He’s pretty muscular, but I’m a pretty good inside fighter and know how use my leverage, so I wanted to put my body on him and back him up.”

Referring to Peterson’s loss to Matthysse, Jean had said he would be able to take advantage of Peterson’s chin, but the champion withstood Jean’s best punches.

“The difference tonight was just a matter of experience,” said Jean, who was buoyed by a contingent waving Canadian flags behind his corner. “I leave with my head held high. My fans are with me, and I fought a hard fight.”

For Peterson, the win was crucial after the crushing loss to Matthysse.

“Every time it seems like I’m set and I’ve got things flowing, I win championships, there’s always what? Setbacks,” Peterson said. “So I’m built to get through setbacks and show people that you can get up and fix things. You can always come back.”

After an uneventful first round, Peterson scored with a left hook early in the second round, but Jean responded with a flurry late. Two judges gave Jean the second, third and fourth rounds.

Jean appeared to be tiring in the middle rounds and Peterson landed several punches with him against the ropes in the sixth.

Peterson continued to apply pressure late in the fight, but Jean withstood it. All three judges gave Peterson the final three rounds.

HUCK VS ARSLAN

AFP, BERLIN

Germany’s Marco Huck defended his WBO cruiserweight belt with a sixth-round knockout of challenger Firat Arslan in Saturday’s rematch in Stuttgart. The 29-year-old Huck put the challenger down twice in the sixth round with a furious onslaught of punches, but both times the 43-year-old struggled back to his feet.

Referee Mark Nelson stepped in to put Arslan out of his misery with 1 minute, 56 seconds of the round remaining.

Having already controversially beaten Germany’s Arslan on points on their previous meeting in November 2012, Huck took control of the fight from the fourth round onward.